The book is first published in 1923 by Le Corbusier in French.
Later it is translated from the 13th
French Edition to English by Frederick Etchells. He has also added the ‘Introduction’ part to the
book.
First of all, in the introduction, the translator of the book Frederick Etchells says that the book
forces us -architects and artists- to discover in what direction we are going and realize in which
strange paths we are forced to travel without our permission.
The book goes on further with ‘Three Reminders to Architects’, which are Mass, Surface and
Plan. The author is criticizing the current architects in terms of these aspects. He complains
about the non-geometrical surfaces, not well-prepared plans and non-existence of an order
nowadays. In addition, the author is explaining the technological elements through his ideas. I
really liked the statement, “Our eyes, unhappily, are unable yet to discern it”. He mentions that
we cannot realize the improper style of the vehicles.
Furthermore, I really enjoyed from the explanations of an architecture that Le Corbusier made
in his book and which are quite reasonable. I want to write down some parts that I really liked;
”The elements of architecture are light and shade, walls and space. The arrangement is the
gradation of aims, the classification of intentions.” ”Contour and profile are a pure creation of
the mind; they call for the plastic artist.”
“We need mass-production houses in need of economy and demand of the industry. We must
create the spirit of constructing mass-production houses. They also should be healthy and
beautiful in the same way in order to the existence of beauty.” This part was also a short
summary of the architecture culture of our time with the critics of the author.
Le Corbusier greatly compares engineers and architects in his further statements. ”The
Engineer, inspired by the law of economy and governed by mathematical calculation, puts us in,
accord with universal law. He achieves harmony.”. On the other hand “The Architect, by his
arrangement of forms, realizes an order which is a pure creation of his spirit; by forms and
shapes he affects our senses to an acute degree, and provokes plastic emotions; by the
relationships which he creates he wakes in us profound echoes, he gives the measure of an
order which we feel to be in accordance with that of our world, he determines the various
movements of our heart and of our understanding; it is then that we experience the sense of
beauty.”
After that, he complains about the architects being unhappy and unemployed while engineers
are active and useful, balanced and happy in their work. The architects no longer have the
money to produce the constructs of their wants. When an engineer builds a town, people who
live there, are not happy. “The happy towns are those that have an architecture.”
To conclude, the intention of Le Corbusier is to criticize the architects and nowadays
architecture to supply the demands of the world to the people as well as to create the beauty in
it while producing the live-able masses.
Le Corbusier, before he was Le Corbusier, was a Swiss-born artist named Charles-Edouard
Jeanneret. In his early years while studying art it is most surprising to say that he did not wish
to be an architect. He wanted to be a painter but he was almost forced to study architecture by
his tutor L’Eplattenier, whom Corbusier calls his master and refers to as his only teacher. After
traveling through various places such as Europe and the Mediterranean; teaching in Switzerland
and working in Germany,he moved to Paris. It is an interesting detail that when
Corbusier decided to become a French citizen, it was not written “architect” on his I.D. but “a
man of literature”.
In Paris he experienced new art forms and established a new artistic movement called “Purism”
along with painter Amédée Ozenfant. They established a purist journal called “L’esprit
Nouveau“. In L’esprit Nouveau they basically defended Le Corbusier’s new style of
functionalism. In 1923, Le Corbusier published Vers une Architecture (Toward a New
Architecture), which collected his writings from L’Esprit Nouveau.
Le Corbusier starts the book “Towards A New Architecture” by stating that architecture is
disconnected and lost in the past. On the other hand he states that engineers started to
develop new technologies and build simple yet effective structures. He strongly expressed the
importance of function also by famously saying “A house is a machine for living in.” Of course
considering the time, his newly proposed architecture would also satisfy the demands of
industry which were, after the industrial revolution, demands of big importance.
The book also reveals the deep historical analysis of architecture by Corbusier and said to be
the final form of his ideas about Rome after seeing it. He states that one has to learn the lesson
of Rome. He even makes unexpected comparisons between the Parthenon and a car to
emphasize the functionality. Believing the auto was a true symbol of modernity, he even
designed cars in his later years.
Vers Une Architecture, drew so much attention at the time because it was proposing a
completely new way of handling architecture. It still has a great place in understanding the
relationship between architecture, technology and history.
Corbusier wrote the book in a very understandable language so everyone could read it. But we
can say that it was especially for architects and architecture students as it was actually a
manifesto. At first, the book was to be named Architecture or Revolution. Indeed, the question
is answered in the last sentence: Revolution can be avoided.
